1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control device capable of replacing consumable products and to a method and program for efficient utilization of such consumable products. Particularly, the present invention relates to a printing control device designed to detect detachment of consumable products still usable for avoiding waste of such items, and to a method and program for efficient utilization of consumable product mounted on such device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when the available remaining amount of a consumable product such as toner used in a color printer or the like becomes small or when the time for replacing a drum comes in the near future (the life of a drum is coming to an end), a user is informed of that fact through a notice message displayed on a control panel display or the like.
If, for example, the remaining amount of yellow toner has become small, a notice message of “REPLACE YELLOW TONER” or a graphical display of the remaining amount of toner is shown to prompt users to replace the yellow toner cartridge.
When users are noticed in this manner, they will be able to know only the fact that the available remaining amount of a consumable product has become low. They, however, are unable to know how much amount is still left and usable. Therefore, if the consumable product is replaced following the notice message, the remaining amount of the product still usable will be discarded wastefully, and thus sufficient economical efficiency or maintainability cannot be obtained.
JP 2001-134064A discloses a technique for enabling precise detection of the remaining amount of developer in a development apparatus.
According to the conventional technique disclosed in JP 2001-134064A, it is made possible to notify a user of the proper timing for replacing developer in a development apparatus, by detecting an accurate remaining amount of developer in the device and notifying the user of the remaining amount thus detected. It is therefore possible to prevent image defects such as white specks or waste of developer, which would be caused by erroneous detection of the remaining amount of the developer.
Further, JP 2002-67450A discloses a technique to facilitate maintenance by storing several type of information such as amount of ink used for printing, number of uses of a cutter for cutting a printing medium like paper, number of times of printing with a printing head, and amount of operation of functional parts.
However, according to the conventional technique disclosed in JP 2001-134064, even if the remaining amount of developer can be detected precisely, there is a risk that a user who replaces developer may make a mistake to replace a developer cartridge that does not require replacement. If this happens, the developer erroneously replaced will be wasted.
According to the technique disclosed in JP 2002-67450A, although maintenance operations are facilitated by providing various types of information, there is still a risk that a replaceable functional part might be replaced erroneously. If this happens, such functional part, which will otherwise be still usable, will be wasted.